Set on the Herengracht canal, two historic mansions house the Biblical Museum, which were works of architect Philips Vingboons erected for local merchant Jacob Cromhout in 1662. Known as the Cromhout houses, the two buildings in the Dutch Classical style display a log on the gable stone at the houses’ front, a reference to the meaning of Cromhout’s surname ‘bent wood’. The buildings feature two of the best preserved 17th-century antique kitchens in the country, exceptional plasterwork ceilings by Ignatius van Logteren, an elegant English staircase and a marble entrance hall. One of the musuem’s highlights is Jacob de Wit’s 1718 painted ceiling. Made up of 10 separate canvases depicting mythological scenes, the ceiling is supplemented by another De Wit masterpiece, the 1750 'Apollo and the Four Seasons'.

This atmospheric setting houses the unique collection of the oldest museums in the Netherlands. The various models of temples, constructed with the utmost precision, show how scholars through the centuries have pondered archaeological finds and biblical texts, following an effort to understand how the ancient temple of Solomon and Herod looked. The 19th-century model of the Tabernacle, commissioned by the founder of the Biblical Museum, Leendert Schouten, is an exceptional reconstruction of the sacred shrine which housed the Ark of the Covenant, carried by the Israelites during their exile in the desert led by Moses. The portable shrine was built with most of the precious materials mentioned in the bible. The awning was woven from goat’s wool, that Schouten specially imported from Syria. The sand which surrounds the exquisite work was brought from the Sinai desert.

Since the 19th Century, the archaeological discoveries have constituted a major field in biblical studies. The Biblical Museum’s Egyptian artefacts were collected by Leendert Schouten in the 19th Century. Intended for display around the Tabernacle, these displays include a vast selection of steles (inscribed stone slabs); shabtis (funerary figurines); canopic jars used for storing mummified remains; scarabs; statues of gods; a sarcophagus; and a mummy of a young woman. The displays are supplemented by numerous oil lamps, clay tablets, earthenware, pottery and coins.

The museum’s collection of bibles features the oldest bible printed in the Netherlands, a piece from 1477 and the first edition of the 1637 Dutch Authorised Version. The museum’s collection depicts the fascinating tale of the translation, printing and distribution of bibles as related to the development of the Netherlands as an independent state, as well as to the evolution of the Dutch language.